Child-sex victims get double-talk, ignorance from N.Y. lawmakers while lobbying for reform to crack down on predators

Top Democrats still won’t tell victims where they can stand on the push to reform the statute of limitations law on child sex abuse claims.

Top Democrats in Albany still won't tell survivors where they can stand on the decade-old effort to reform the state's statute of limitations law on child sex abuse claims.

A long day of lobbying legislators Monday did not yield any new hope for advocates as they left meeting after meeting with nothing more than rejections and earfuls of double-talk from politicians — some of whom remain noncommittal on the issue.

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Senate Republicans remained opposed to reform — even after hearing survivors recall the horrors they endured as children.

After just two meetings before lunch, pessimism had set in among the six advocates that they'd made no progress persuading Albany powerbrokers to allow the reform to come to even come to a vote before the legislative session ends June 16.

"I don't know how we are going to move these guys," Kathryn Robb, 55, said after she and other child sex abuse survivors met with state Senate Deputy Majority Leader John DeFrancisco (R-Syracuse) and staff for Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan (R-Long Island).

Her sense of despair was only slightly diminished following meetings with staff for Gov. Cuomo and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx), the two most powerful Democrats in the capitol.

David Perino, Cuomo's assistant legal counsel, told the group he could not give the governor's position on the issue and spent the bulk of a meeting going over the details of Assemblywoman Margaret Markey's bill.

Her legislation would end the statute of limitations on civil claims of sex abuse. It would also grant a one-year look-back window for those whose statute of limitations had expired to bring a civil lawsuit.

Child sex abuse victims in New York are currently unable to bring civil or criminal charges against their abusers after the turn 23.

Kathleen O'Keefe, counsel for legislative affairs and a Heastie staffer, threw out a Daily News reporter and photographer before sitting down with the survivors.

"I am a little disappointed that you were inviting reporters into the meeting," O'Keefe said to the group.

"How can they put a statute of limitations on my memories, which will never go away?" Wagner said. "And he's out there smiling."

The Flanagan staffers made it clear that they were only there to listen.

"I can't speak for the senator or the (GOP) conference," Senior Counsel Colleen Glavin said before conceding there were concerns among the conference that eliminating the statute of limitations would be a "slippery slope."

DeFrancisco was the only high-ranking legislator who sat down with the advocates. He even allowed a News reporter and photographer to sit in on the meeting, but also used his own videographer to record the session so "there are no misunderstandings."

The No. 2 Republican in the Senate met with the group for nearly 40 minutes. Though sympathetic at times, DeFrancisco said that existing laws are sufficient and that eliminating the statute of limitations and giving a one-year look back would trigger false claims against innocent people.

Some of Albany's biggest pols still won't say where they stand on the Child Victims Act or similar laws. (Jefferson Siegel/New York Daily News)

"I consider myself a moral human being trying to make the right decision balancing all the facts," DeFrancisco said.

At one point, DeFrancisco grew annoyed at The News photographer for taking too many pictures.

"How many do you need?" he said, before accusing the photographer of making an effort to score a photo that would make DeFrancisco look like a "mean-spirited person."

Robb, a sex abuse survivor, left the meeting feeling as if DeFrancisco's opinion had not changed.

Gary Greenberg, an investor who plans to put up and raise $100,000 to push for passage of the Child Victims Act. (Jefferson Siegel/New York Daily News)

"I am pleased that he met with us. ... I think the senator is ill-informed," she said.

In addition to Markey's bill, another bill would extend the time in which victims can sue from 23 to 28. A third would eliminate both the civil and criminal statutes of limitations.

"He means well and I am hoping he can see the fuller picture and not defend sexual predators and protect children. I do think he is sincerely listening I just hope he opens his mind a bit," Robb said of DeFrancisco.